Author: Lavina Melwani

A Chance to Study India in an Indian Institute…

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has announced a program called “Study India Program” (SIP) for overseas Indian youth.

Gladys Perint Palmer, executive director of the School of Fashion, Academy of Art University, and noted fashion illustrator, turned her pen on the charms of Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor, spotted in the front row at the Paris shows. The drawing will feature in her book “Adam & Yves” (Firefall Editions) to be published later this year.

Palmer’s pen has caught the work of many fashion rajas and ranis from Jean Paul Gaultier to Zandra Rhodes. She says: “It is hardly surprising that when I saw Sonam Kapoor at Elie Saab in Paris, glittering with sequins, bugle beads and embroidery, I had to draw her!”

There are not too many people in their 20’s who have discovered a new, easy way to detect cancer in its earliest stages, raised funds for this research and also become the CEO of a corporation which creates the patents for this breaking technology.

Raj Krishnan of San Diego, California has done all three. While Ph.D students in Bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) he and his friend David Charlot created Biological Dynamics, along with Professor Michael Heller. Raj and his team have developed innovative blood tests that use electric fields to detect key signals that a patient has cancer from the blood. “The technology itself is a microchip in a plastic cartridge,” he says. “You insert blood into the cartridge where it reaches the microchip, which uses AC Electric Fields to isolate cancer biomarkers from the blood.”

He was India’s first big superstar, the one for whom that title had been virtually created. In fact, with his stylish mannerisms and his heart-stealing smile, he had gone where no other major Indian movie star had gone before. Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand had fans – but Rajesh Khanna had fevered followers. His female fans were legion and there was a new word invented especially for him – The Phenomenon. Women, it is said, married his photograph, applying sindoor of their blood to their foreheads. His romantic eyes, his matchless smile did something insane to them.
And that brings us to the point: when and where does the pact between actor and audience end? Does the connection end as the reels roll off and the screen goes dark or does the audience pursue the actor into the real world?

On the Delhi-Matura road heading out to Agra, as our pristine luxury bus merges into the sea of dusty, meandering trucks, lorries, buses, cars, scooters, cycles and the occasional camel, it is possible to see life being lived in the open.

From the window of this secluded and privileged world, I can see India whizzing by: ramshackle paan bidi shops; one man – one table entrepreneurships selling chole matter for Rs.15; dingy snack shacks bursting with bottled water, chips, and of course Pepsi and Coke.
There are helmet stands with colorful helmets positioned on the sidewalk; a sign ‘Hell or helmet’ which tells of people’s growing awareness of road safety; a mini roadside temple to the God Hanuman festooned with marigold garlands; and of course, people, people and more people everywhere.

Imagine growing gourmet oyster mushrooms from discarded coffee grounds!

Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez , both students at UC Berkeley, were headed toward careers in investment banking and consultancy when they heard a professor talk about this little known fact. Intrigued they decided to put it to the test.

“The whole idea seemed so improbable – it’s really been a blast!,” says Nikhil. The gambit has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, resulting in the reuse of 1 million pounds of used coffee grounds which would have been dumped in landfills. They have been invited to the White House as agents of change.

It’s a place where life and death have no value. In an encounter with the Gangs of Wsseypur, the audience is transported quite literally to the wild, wild world of Wasseypur where human blood gushes like water, gunshots ring out as freely as birdsong, and no one is burdened with a conscience of a moral compass.

Anurag Kashyap, architect of this unforgettable, hellish world, received a standing ovation at Cannes for his 5-hour plus epic ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, a juggernaut of revenge set in rural India. An interview with the Godfather of Wasseypur…

Faith is a powerful game changer: In 1994 it transformed a small house in Flushing, Queens into a sparkling Sai Temple where hundreds of devotees come for peace and spirituality. This has become a welcome space for Sai worshippers who needed a place to congregate and meditate. As the numbers of devotees increased, a new building was planned for the site, with a ground-breaking in 2004. Finally the Guru Pranapratista was done in April 2010.

There are not too many chefs who can cook for humans and the gods with equal panache but New York chef Vikas Khanna is certainly one of them. He has helped cook langar at the Golden Temple, exchanged hugs with Amma and also created gourmet dishes at the high-end New York restaurant, Junoon. Not to mention cooking a Satvic meal at the White House!

Yet this celebrity chef started out unsung and unknown in a simple, middle-class family in Amritsar. Growing up, Vikas’ life was different from that of other kids who would be running around, playing cricket and climbing trees. He had a disability as his feet were not aligned.

“Where I found my shelter was in the kitchen. Simple, home-cooked meals became like prasad for me, and Biji, my grandmother, my priest. She didn’t teach me recipes, she taught me the power of food to heal, to connect people.”

Summer is here and it’s a great time to indulge in the beauty of Central Park or just window shop in the dream stores down Fifth Avenue. There’s also a delightful place, a hidden gem, to sit down and rest your tired feet, chat with friends and grab a drink. The place is the Two E Bar and lounge at the Pierre, which is part of the Taj Group. Few people know of this intimate spot in the city where you can enjoy cocktails away from the madding crowd. Now every Tuesday you get to hear Jazz and drink cocktails inspired by Mad Men.

“How many of us like to go to social events? Let’s be honest. A bunch of strangers standing around, some have their friends, some don’t; some are nice; some are not. Finding your place at a bunch of single networking events can be daunting, especially if you are on the introverted side.”
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Like any good movie, the five-day festival had lots of action, drama, side stories and even back stories. There were panels, discussions, parties and after-parties, all a shorthand for absorbing the diverse material and networking with film buffs.

It was in many ways a New York story, with the opening day red carpet taking place outside the historic Paris Theater (a favorite of the late Ismail Merchant), right opposite the glitzy Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue. Horse carriages trotted by near Central Park, horns honked as cars sped and pedestrians rushed by in frentic NY fashion, a few stopping to see what the hullabaloo was about.

It was a power show of Indian success in America and so it was quite symbolic that an Indian flag flies proudly outside the historic hotel where the event was held on Fifth Avenue. The hotel of course is the beautiful Pierre, owned by the Taj Group, and was the venue of The Light of India Awards honoring Indian-American achievers.

The red carpet where the celebrities walked was not really red but the royal blue of the Taj and the guests who walked on it were royalty too of the NRI breed, including Shashi Tharoor, Amitav Ghosh, Lisa Ray, Sabeer Bhatia, Padma Lakshmi, Jagdish Bhagwati, and Siddhartha Mukherjee, to name a few.

Take away Bollywood from the masses and there would probably be a national uprising! Indian cinema has something for everyone: the emotional storylines, drawn out romances and musical numbers soothe the soul, and the comedy, often unintended, can bring a smile to the grimmest life.

It is amazing to see how all of India awaits the release of a Bollywood movie with bated breath. The film is ‘Bol Bachchan’ from Rohit Shetty who hit box office gold with the Golmaal series and the Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Singham’ last year.

Now he’s brought all those fail-proof elements and combined them with the Bachchan factor – not one, not two but three Bachchans! Junior Bachchan plays a dual role in the film and dad Amitabh Bachchan features in a rousing musical number in the movie with the two hunks Ajay and Abhishek and hordes of sexy dancers. Now trending on Twitter!

“Delhi was once a paradise,

Where love held sway and reigned;

But its charm lies ravished now

And only ruins remain.”

So wrote Bahadur Shah Zafar, poet and art patron, the last of the great Mughal emperors, as the mighty empire of his forefathers dissolved and the new rajahs arrived in town, the East India Company traders who were fast evolving into the new Colonial masters.
Those times are long gone, and Delhi, the spunky never-say-die city which re-invents itself after each invasion, is thriving once again.

The beautiful Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan was the venue for the launch of Meera Gandhi’s coffee table book ‘Giving Back’ hosted by Barbara Tober, Chairman Emerita of the museum, and Chris Meigher, publisher of Quest Magazine.

What can be more American than the motels which dot the vast expanse of America? They are a part of the road journeys which almost every American takes, the summer vacation memories that are part of the collective experience of the nation. Small mom and pop places, bigger franchises of known names and of course upscale hotels – and often they have an Indian-American connection. It is a well-known fact that Indian-Americans are very dominant in the hospitality industry in the US. In his new book ‘Life Beyond the Lobby’ , Pawan Dhingra explores the Indian hand in these rest stops which we all are so familiar with.

It was a day of celebrating women’s inherent potential and success stories. Over 260 women came to Children’s Hope India annual Spring Lunch to support vocational projects for the girl child in the urban slums and rural India. Designer Ranjana Khan spoke eloquently about her journey as model, wife, mother and entrepreneur in the dizzying world of high fashion.

“Let’s be honest – many Indian women want sons, not daughters,” she said. “And yet here we are in this beautiful room filled with beautiful women who are all doing such interesting things with their lives. Today, I have meet salsa dancers, kick boxers and successful businesswomen.”

The verdict is in – Dharun Ravi gets 30 days imprisonment for spying with a webcam on Tyler Clementi, his roommate having a sexual encounter with a male, and then tweeting about it. Clementi later committed suicide. Did the punishment fit the crime or was it too light?

2012 marks the 100th year of Indian Cinema, so what better time to go on a filmi marathon?
Luckily, the 2012 New York Indian Film Festival is just around the corner, so we can eat, drink and dream cinema for 5 days!
But Indian cinema is so much more than just Bollywood and here are 10 tips to help you get the best of this multifaceted festival which brings you a rich mix of regional and Hindi cinema.
The 12th annual New York Indian Film Festival is presented by Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) and runs May 23-27